Perspectives

I always ponder over the fact that we, as humans, mean so much less in the world than we think we do. I know that by reading that it sounds almost mean, but if we look at the situation in a different perspective, it’s not meant to be mean at all. In fact, it can be considered true in many people’s eyes. What happens to us, as individuals, is vital in our eyes because it involves our life and our situations. It can affect us in so many ways that can be detrimental, exciting, etc. However, if we were to zoom out of our life when something important is happening in it, we would see other people going on with their lives. They have absolutely no idea if we just received the best news in the world or if we are falling apart on the inside. Their life moves on while ours takes a halt. It is always the opposite and if it ever is the same, it’s by accident.

I can recall a time in my life when I felt very stressed out about everything. My future, my schoolwork, my social life, it didn’t matter as I was stressing about it all. I remember weeks where I would start feeling so overwhelmed that all I could do was either cry or just sit there in silence. One day, during this period of time, I went outside to get some fresh air. On my walk, I noticed so many people walking their dogs or walking with a friend, laughing and chatting so loudly that their voices filled the whole neighborhood. I looked at them with a perplexed look on my face. Don’t they know that this isn’t an exciting day? How are they so happy right now? It was so puzzling to see other people experiencing happiness in their life while mine was going downhill. It never really clicked to me until this point that we don’t matter as much as we think we do beyond ourselves and loved ones.

Knowing that we don’t matter as much as we think we do can seem on the surface a bad thing. However, it could easily be perceived as a good thing. If we mess up in life, why does it matter so much to us? It shouldn’t, especially if it doesn’t matter to our loved ones either. Those other people that are living their own lives aren’t going to remember us when we mess up in public. Our memory won’t even be close to taking precedence in their mind. Due to this, the amount of pressure we put on ourselves to portray someone who is perfect and not ourselves is a waste of time. We may think people are noticing, but we are just one of the many unknown faces passing by.

So, what’s stopping us from doing what we love? Are we scared of failure or are we scared of people’s judgment? I feel that these questions are always popping into my mind, but they become extremely irrelevant once we take a look through the accurate lenses of ourselves in this world.